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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25884958">Rebels</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuriV1/pseuds/Auriana%20Valoria'>Auriana Valoria (AuriV1)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Herald of Change [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dragon Age: Inquisition</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bad Templars (Dragon Age), Free Marches (Dragon Age), Gen, Good Templars (Dragon Age), Mage-Templar War (Dragon Age), Templars (Dragon Age)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:20:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,456</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25884958</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuriV1/pseuds/Auriana%20Valoria</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>On their way to Kirkwall, Knight-Lieutenant Donovan Trevelyan and his comrades encounter more Templars.</p><p>It doesn't end well.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Herald of Change [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1636348</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Rebels</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>The road to Kirkwall, the Free Marches; Nubulis (Drakonis), 9:41 Dragon</em>
</p><p>A few days after their encounter with the strange red lyrium Templars, Donovan and his fellows decided it was time to leave the Free Marches behind them in search of better prospects elsewhere. Their new charges – the recruits they had rescued outside Tantervale’s walls – were more than agreeable to the idea, wanting to leave the location of their traumatic experiences well behind them. After some hashing out of possible destinations, they settled on sailing to Orlais, planning to journey first south to Kirkwall and then catch a ship to the Empire from there.</p><p>With the Maker’s blessing, they had managed to travel for little over a week with no major complications. The weather was beginning to warm somewhat, and the skies became clearer and brighter, signaling the start of spring. This small change in the atmosphere did much to lift their spirits, and the group was even cheerful as they made their way down the road to Kirkwall, the youngest among them, as usual, chatting up a storm, while the older ones kept their eyes peeled for trouble.</p><p>But, as luck would have it, this lightened mood would not last.</p><p>It was a particularly pleasant morning, punctuated by the lilting sounds of singing birds and chattering woodland animals full in the throes of springtime pursuits, when they spotted the flash of silver armor ahead of them on the road.</p><p>“Hey look, it’s more Templars!” Sven remarked, pointing a gauntleted finger.</p><p>“Great,” Donovan muttered flatly inside his winged helm. Ever since their hostile encounter with the last batch of their kind, they had each felt the odd compulsive need to wear all of their protective gear at all times.</p><p>“Do you have to sound so morose about it?” Emil teased, punching Donovan in the arm. “They could be just like us, you know.”</p><p>“Who wants to bet they’re not?” Dieter growled from behind them.</p><p>“Maker, why did it have be this way?” Donovan asked, mostly to himself, before raising a hand in greeting to the approaching Templars – a little over a half-dozen men. Taking a deep breath, he addressed them with a raised voice that rang inside his helm, “Hail brothers!”</p><p>There were several moments of awkward silence before their leader hesitantly responded in kind, “Hail! Andraste smile on you.”</p><p>As the two parties drew closer and closer, they slowed their pace, glancing between opposing members cautiously. In any other circumstances, it would be a relief to meet fellow Templars on the road. Now, however, they seemed to be sizing each other up… gauging how much of a threat they were to each other. It made Donovan nauseous, even as he tried to keep his reply light and cordial. “And you, friends. What brings you to these parts, if I may ask?” He regretted the question as soon as it left his mouth, however, as he was certain that he knew the answer already.</p><p>The leader propped one gloved hand on his sword hilt. “Hunting mages, as the Lord Seeker commands, of course. How goes your own search for the fiends…” he trailed as he cocked his head, examining Donovan’s appearance, “…Knight-Lieutenant?” he finished as he felt more certain about Donovan’s rank.</p><p>He knew it. <em>More of these types, then</em>. The leader’s words made Donovan’s skin prickle with irritation. “We’re not hunting anyone,” he replied shortly. “We go our own way.”</p><p>The other Templar leader lifted his helmed head somewhat, stiffening and shifting his weight from one foot to the other as his fingers flexed atop his sword’s pommel. His voice bore a note of irritation as he answered, “Knight-Lieutenant, you must remember that your duty is to-”</p><p>“Don’t <em>tell</em> me what my duty is!” Donovan snapped, jerking a thumb at the road behind him. “Go on your way and do what you will, however foolish, but leave us out of it. We want no part of this ill-conceived war.”</p><p>The other Templars glanced among themselves, and their leader began slowly pulling his sword from its scabbard, the sound a long and menacing scrape of metal. “Well, well. Your rank means <em>nothing</em> after all. Prepare yourselves; it looks like we have rebels on our hands, boys.”</p><p>Donovan’s grip tightened on his own sword, and he could hear his comrades shifting behind him, ready to pull their weapons, too. “And just what are you planning on doing about it, <em>ser</em>?”</p><p>“If you won’t follow the Order, then you are as good as a mage sympathizer, and sympathizers might as well be the same as the damned mages themselves,” the leader responded, brandishing his blade at Donovan. “It’s <em>your</em> weak-willed kind that let this happen! I will show you how we deal with traitors to the Order!”</p><p>Donovan’s eyes flashed as he drew his blade in answer and shrugged his shield upon his arm. “Maker take you! <em>You</em> are the traitors! You who forgot what we were and defiled our purpose!”</p><p>They charged together like armored bulls, roaring and crashing against one another. Arrows whistled, shields clashed, blades rang out, and atop it all were their battlecries to the Maker, the cacophony sending birds into flight overhead. The more experienced in Donovan’s company kept the recruits at bay for their protection, forbidding them from entering the fray as the veterans took the brunt of the attack. Donovan made it a point to take on the leader of the opposing company himself, gradually pushing his foe backwards with the sheer force of his blows.</p><p>A blind rage had overtaken him. These fools were a large part of the reason why the world was falling apart at the seams. Why he and his company lived in constant motion and constant wariness, never able to find peace or rest. Why he felt completely lost and without purpose. Why he might never see his beloved sister ever again. Why she might very well be dead – the only good that ever came out of his family.</p><p>Donovan wasn’t aware of his surroundings at all until it was suddenly over, the crimson-stained bodies of their enemies littering the road. He was gripping his bloody sword so tightly that his knuckles hurt, and his breaths were ragged inside his helmet. In a fit of pique, he abruptly tore the helm from his head and tossed it aside, the metal clattering loudly against a cobblestone. His sword and shield followed it before he spun and marched towards a nearby boulder that bordered the road, kneeling before it and clasping his hands atop it in prayer. His limbs shook from adrenaline and rage, but he forced his eyes to close as the Chant of Light came to his lips, tumbling from them with practiced ease and almost without thought. For the longest time, it was the only sound that could be heard, as if his companions were afraid of making any noise lest his wrath fall upon them in kind. Finally, however, after what seemed like hours, Donovan felt a hand gently squeeze his, and he opened his eyes to see Jehanna’s weathered face before him as she knelt on the other side of the rock.</p><p>“You’re doing the right thing,” she said softly, in a reassuring, almost soothing tone that she rarely took. There was an unusual gentleness in her one good eye, and she offered him a small smile. “You have been ever since the Circle fell. We wouldn’t be with you, otherwise.”</p><p>“She’s right,” Douglas added, cautiously approaching from his left. “It’s people like you in the upper ranks who give us hope for the Order. We’re sticking with you, no matter what happens. Even if we never find anyone else like us,” he continued, glancing to the others for affirmation, “we’ve got each other. If we’re the only ones who remember the way things are supposed to be, so be it.”</p><p>“And if anyone tries to stop us,” Dieter rumbled, “then they end up like these shitheads. <em>They’re</em> the traitors, just like you said. Not you. Never forget that.”</p><p>Slowly, Donovan nodded, closing his eyes again and taking deep calming breaths, his trembling gradually subsiding. After a few moments, he replied softly, “Thank you.”</p><p>Swallowing, he stood and gathered his equipment before stepping over the corpses they were leaving behind and continuing down the road to Kirkwall.</p><p>“Come on. We’ve still a long way to go.”</p><p>With that, the small company of loyalist Templars continued their journey, a dark cloud settling over them all once more. No matter how much they tried to shrug it off, it seemed that it would always find its way back to them, and Donovan wondered if they were destined to be burdened by such darkness forever.</p>
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